1. Field of the Invention,
The present invention pertains to cases having hinged lids, and in particular to such cases having wheel assemblies incorporated therewith.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Two-wheel carts have been proposed for use with luggage and other personal items which must be carried about from place to place, usually over considerable distances. It is desirable that such carriers be relatively lightweight, and collapsible to a relatively small package when not in use. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,401,319 discloses a luggage carrier having a pivoting handle, made of lightweight tubular construction. The handle has two pivotally connected portions which interlock. Other carts, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,612,563; 4,175,769; 4,221,402; 4,630,837; and 5,024,458, have telescopic interfitting handles which can be compressed to a size substantially smaller than one-half the height of the extended handle. The ease of interlocking telescoping handle portions has been addressed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,998,476 and 4,896,897, which employ spring-loaded locking buttons carried on one telescoping handle part which snap into an adjacent handle part to lock the handles in an extended position. The handles are typically provided with an inverted U-shape, with spring-loaded buttons installed in each leg of the "U."
Each of the luggage carriers described above comprise separate stand-alone mechanisms upon which luggage or other articles may be placed. Thus, one carrier can be used for a variety of different applications. However, it is sometimes desired to provide a case having an integrated cart.